Human Genome Project

The Human Genome Project (HGP) is an international scientific research project with a primary goal of determining the sequence of chemical base pairs which make up DNA, and of identifying and mappingthe approximately 20,000-25,000 genes of the human genome from both a physical and functional standpoint.
The project began in October 1990 and was initially headed by Ari Patrinos, head of theOffice of Biological and Environmental Research in the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. Francis Collins directed the National Institutes of Health National Human Genome Research Instituteefforts. A working draft of the genome was announced in 2000 and a complete one in 2003, with further, more detailed analysis still being published. A parallel project was conducted outside ofgovernment by the Celera Corporation, which was formally launched in 1998. Most of the government-sponsored sequencing was performed in universities and research centers from the United States, the UnitedKingdom, Japan, France, Germany. Researchers continue to identify protein-coding genes and their functions; the objective is to find disease-causing genes and possibly use the information to develop morespecific treatments. It also may be possible to locate patterns in gene expression, which could help physicians glean insight into the body's emergent properties.
While the objective of the HumanGenome Project is to understand the genetic makeup of the human species, the project has also focused on several other nonhuman organisms such as E. coli, the fruit fly, and the laboratory mouse. Itremains one of the largest single investigative projects in modern science.
The Human Genome Project originally aimed to map the nucleotides contained in a human haploid reference genome (more than threebillion). Several groups have announced efforts to extend this to diploid human genomes including the Project, Applied, Perlegen, Illumina, J. Craig Venter Institute, Personal Genome Project,...